Culumon follows Ruki around town despite Ruki’s irritation, jumping into her hands right when her mother approaches, who’s happy to see that Ruki’s into “that kind of thing” (believing Culumon to be a stuffed animal). Ruki dumps Culumon off at the shrine, telling him not to follow her again. As Culumon sadly runs off, Ruki feels the presence behind her again and instinctively calls for Renamon, and the presence disappears. Renamon appears and asks Ruki if something’s wrong, but Ruki shrugs it off.

Impmon looks at Jian and Terriermon reading together through the window, scoffing at how “pathetic” it is that Terriermon’s acting like a human. He walks around and eventually runs into Renamon. As Renamon ignores him, Impmon tries to provoke her by telling her that Terriermon is challenging her to a battle, but Renamon is all too aware of Jian’s reluctance to let Terriermon fight to believe it. As Renamon walks off, Impmon reasons that Terriermon might be a weak opponent if he doesn’t fight.

At Ruki’s home, Ruki’s mother tries to get her to try on all kinds of clothes, which Ruki hates due to their “cute” style. When Ruki’s mother brings up the “toy” Ruki had earlier, Ruki claims that a strange guy gave it to her and that she threw it away.

Ruki is approached again by the strange presence, causing her to shut herself in her room and ask Renamon to check the hallway for anything. Renamon doesn’t find anything, but assures Ruki that she’ll protect her because she’s her partner. Ruki has a hard time swallowing this, not believing that a Digimon would be her partner, and goes out, telling Renamon that she doesn’t have to follow.

Takato practices Card Slashes at the park, and Jian gives him a lecture on strategy, advising him to look into combos. Impmon appears, attempting to provoke Terriermon into a fight, but Takato and Jian won’t have any of it and lead Guilmon and Terriermon away, with Jian ordering Terriermon not to fight. When Impmon attacks the departing Terriermon, Terriermon fends him off and sends him flying, having technically not instigated a battle.

Renamon sits on the roof of Ruki’s house, having trouble understanding where Ruki is coming from. Ruki, while out, feels the presence again and sees it walking off. She follows it, only to be pulled into an icy realm by an IceDevimon. IceDevimon tells her that the coldness of the air matches that of her heart, and that he’s her partner - but Ruki still considers Renamon her partner. Renamon senses that Ruki is in distress, but remembers what Ruki had said about her difficulty believing that Digimon is a partner. IceDevimon continues to assert himself as Ruki’s partner, showing her his collection of frozen Digimon as proof that he is the “strong” Digimon she wanted.

Meanwhile, as IceDevimon’s Digital Field manifests over a building, Culumon notices Jian and Takato running towards it with Guilmon and Terriermon.

Ruki is horrified at IceDevimon’s deeds, and IceDevimon responds that Ruki has been doing the same in her attempts to get Renamon to evolve. Ruki, realizing that he’s right, pushes IceDevmon and says that he doesn’t understand her as well as he claims to. IceDevimon continues to push to convince Ruki to become his Tamer, saying that their goals are similar in that he wants to be strong and she wants to be the strongest Tamer. He challenges Ruki to call Renamon so that they can face off and see who’s worthy of becoming Ruki’s partner, but Ruki is reluctant. IceDevimon decides to call Renamon himself and sends a beam of light into the sky.

Takato and Jian arrive at the Digital Field to find Ruki and IceDevimon, and Jian figures that IceDevimon must be powerful in order for him to Realize without Terriermon or Guilmon even noticing and to make a closed off realm like this. He deliberates what to do, but Takato goes ahead and sends Guilmon in, and Jian has Terriermon go in with him. IceDevimon quickly freezes them, and even when Jian uses Meramon card in a Card Slash to give Terriermon a fire attack, he’s unable to get Terriermon and Guilmon out. Meanwhile, Ruki, remembering what she had said to Renamon earlier, is certain that Renamon won’t come for her.

IceDevimon realizes that Ruki’s reason for refusing to call Renamon is that she’s hurt from having to fight with someone she considers a friend, and asks her to go back to her “old self” with a cold heart and a mindset of treating Digimon as tools. Right then, Renamon arrives and begins battle with IceDevimon, but he quickly knocks her down. Takato urges Ruki to get Renamon to evolve, but Ruki feels that if she does, Renamon will become just like IceDevimon. IceDevimon demands to know why Ruki still has an attachment to Renamon, and Ruki declares Renamon to be her friend, causing her Digivice to light up and evolve Renamon to Kyuubimon.

Kyuubimon fares better against IceDevimon, but still visibly struggles. Jian manages to get Terriermon and Guilmon out of the ice by using an Option Card that shatters it, and Takato uses a speed Option Card followed by one that gives Guilmon wings. The combination ends up extremely effective, and Guilmon easily defeats IceDevimon and loads his data.

Shellshocked, Ruki declares that she hates Digimon and walks off. Kyuubimon in turn departs in another direction, and Takato expresses frustration that he doesn’t understand what’s going on.

Tropes

Goggles Do Nothing: Although Takato again uses his goggles to enter the digital field, he takes them off briefly to look closer at Jian pointing out Ruki. Seems they’re not as necessary as he makes it look like.

Loophole Abuse: The dub’s version of the Terriermon and Impmon incident has Henry tell Terriermon not to touch Impmon. After Terriermon blows Impmon off, he defends himself by saying that he didn’t touch Impmon and only blew him away.

Recycled Soundtrack: In the dubbed version of this episode, Rika listens to “Here We Go” on her headphones, which was used for Adventure 02’s dub during the sequences when the kids would enter the Digital World.

Stock Footage: Takato gets his very first Card Slash sequence in this episode, signifying that he finally knows how to properly use Option Cards in strategy.

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